Review and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 8. (2/25/1909)

Review and Herald

Feb 25, 1909

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 25, 1909

A CONTRAST

Christianity and Heathenism

The night lies dark upon the earth, And we have light; So many have to grope their way, And we have sight; One path is theirs and ours— Of sin and care; But we are borne along, And they their burden bear. Foot-sore and weary, each upon the way; Mute is their sorrow, while we kneel and pray. Glad are they of stone on which to rest, While we lie pillowed on our Father's breast. —Selected.

Life and Health for March

“The people are in sad need of the light shining from the pages of our health and temperance journals. God desires to use these as a medium through which flashes of light shall arrest the attention of the people and cause them to heed the warning of the message of the third angel.” —MRS. E. G. WHITE.

This number of Life and Health has so many excellent features that it is difficult to decide which should receive particular mention. Of the general articles note the following:—

Dr. J. R. Leadsworth traces an interesting case of Self-poisoning. Dr. D. H. Kress considers further the Cause and Rational Treatment of Cancer. Mr. Cornforth’s Cooking Lesson on Soups tells how to make palatable and nourishing soups without meat.

Dr. W. A. George begins a series, Home Treatments for Common Diseases, giving specific directions for treating sprained ankle, bruises, severe burns, and other common ailments.

A new department, Home Acre, has valuable hints on planning a home.

The Medical Missionary department is filled with reports from India, Korea, Argentina, and Palestine.

The departments of Medical Forum, Abstracts, and Current Comment have timely, condensed articles on such vital questions as: The Early Recognition of Tuberculosis, Physicians and the Anti-Rum Crusade, The Results of Inefficient Care of the Teeth, The Effects of Alcoholic Liquors on Schoolchildren, Cancer a Dietetic Disease, School Gardens, and Tuberculosis and the Child.

Some are following up the work begun with the special number of the REVIEW, by going to the same persons with Life and Health. Already thousands of copies have been ordered for this work alone. There are many persons yet to be heard from. Notice these extracts from letters:—

No. 1, From Indiana

“Enclosed find one dollar (money-order), for which send me twenty-five copies of Life and Health. I have sold the copies recently sent me. I am about seventy-six years old, and can not do much actively, still I do.”

No. 2, From Michigan

“We received the twelve copies of Life and Health. They are all sold but two, and these are spoken for. Have done as well as we expected in this place. Think we can sell twenty-five copies of the March number.”

No. 3, From Indiana

“We received the twenty-five copies of Life and Health, and they are all sold. Some were afraid there was Adventism in them, but we think we did very well, and you may send us twenty-five of the next number if you will.”

No. 4, From Florida

“Magazines received, and disposed of. You will please find enclosed money-order for one dollar. Kindly mail me five copies more. I would have sent for twenty-five copies, but have some of the February Watchman to sell. The last of February you will please mail me twenty-five copies of the March number of Life and Health.”

No. 5, From Iowa

“Find enclosed one dollar, to pay for the twenty-five copies of Life and Health. I would like to have twenty-five copies of the March number. I do not have much time that is not crowded full of home duties, as there are six in my family, and I do all my own work, and help my mother with hers; nevertheless, I do want to do all the missionary work I can. I went out with the papers one day, and sold ten copies.”

No. 6, From Georgia

“Enclosed find money-order, for which please send one hundred copies of Life and Health. Your letter was received yesterday, and the papers the day previous. The letter was a source of help and encouragement to me. Just after reading it, my father said he had been unexpectedly called to ——, about four miles distant, and that I might go with him and try to sell my papers. At first, I thought it would be of no use to take all the papers, as —— is not a large town; but I decided to take them all. I had little preparation. I read the paper through the day before, and knew what it contained, and the help you sent me I studied along the way. I sold my papers (thirty) in one hour and fifteen minutes, and really ought to have had more. The Lord wonderfully blessed me. I am sure that by God’s help I can earn my way through school, and perhaps money enough to take my brother to school. He must work and help earn the living, and can not go out to work for himself. Please send the papers as soon as possible, as I am waiting for them.”

Remember, Life and Health is now a 64-page magazine, and the price is $1 a year; 2 to 25 copies, 5 cents each; 25 to 500 copies, 4 cents; special rates on larger quantities.

Editorial

By Editor

SOMETHING more is needed than a compilation of moral precepts in order to overcome evil, and reveal the divine character. There must be not simply right principles, but the necessary power to translate principles into conduct. This is the essence of the gospel—“the power of God unto salvation.” Confucius was a good moralist, but he has never lifted the Chinese above the low plane of expediency. Jesus of Nazareth not only taught the truth, but he was the truth, and by the power of his own indwelling he becomes the truth in the hearts and lives of those who receive him. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

THE final retribution that comes to spiritual Babylon is meted out according to her self-glorification and her delicious living. Rev. 18:6, 7. The rule of conduct for God's people is the direct antithesis of this. “For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world; looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Titus 2:11-13. How appropriate is this instruction for the people who expect to stand in the days when Babylon's punishment is meted out to her!

Tested by Results

DURING the present generation there has been an attempt to revolutionize religious belief, an effort to substitute for that Christianity which has been the hope of believers for many centuries, a new philosophy of existence and a new religion. Adopting the principle of evolution as a sufficient explanation of all that is, and encouraging man to look within himself in order to find those powers which, when developed, would enable him to rise in the scale of being, the leaders of this revolutionary movement have discarded as unreliable, the plain revelation made in the Scriptures concerning the person and being of God and his relation to all existing things and beings, and by the aid of speculative philosophy and the uncertain guidance of human reason have developed various systems of belief, which, while differing in the details, agree in the one basal principle that salvation (or, as they phrase it, the rise to a higher plane of existence) is to be attained by self-effort and self-development.

Sufficient time has elapsed since these theories have been advanced to make it possible to apply to them the test of results. The Christianity of the Bible has proved its power for good in the history of both nations and individuals. Its profitableness, for both the present world and the future, has been abundantly demonstrated; but in what way has the new religion proved its claim to superiority over the old? This inquiry is developed, and the answer given, in a convincing way by Dr. George C. Lorimer in one of a course of lectures on “Christianity in the Nineteenth Century,” from which we quote:—

But how about the substitutes proposed? Are they more intelligible, more promising, more satisfying than the Christianity they have undertaken to dethrone? What is their value to society? Have they furnished unmistakable signs of fitness to meet the growing needs of the age, and to deal adequately with the permanent longings of the soul? Are they able to console in times of trouble, and to quicken in seasons of spiritual apathy, and to inspire in hours of weariness and trial? Are their fundamental principles more reasonable than those of the gospel? Are their motives to duty higher, their ideals nobler, their sympathies broader, and their hopes clearer and better authenticated? What have they to show for themselves? What lives have they regenerated and reinstated? What griefs have they assuaged? What reprobates have they reclaimed? What problems have they solved, and what solitary ray of light have they shed on the troubled sea of existence? If they bring a more rational and comprehensive view of the universe than is given in the Bible; if they speak with greater distinctness and assurance of a future world than the Gospels; and if they furnish a diviner conception of manhood, and a more certain method of winning the degraded and forlorn back to righteousness and peace than are embodied in the person and plan of Jesus Christ, their right to attention, and, perhaps, to supremacy, may properly be recognized. Between them and Christianity the question at issue is mainly one of comparative worth.

Is any one of them worthy to be the successor of Christianity, assuming for the moment that Christianity is to have a successor? If judged by their fruits, intellectual, spiritual, moral, social, the answer must be in the negative. Their careers thus far have been only remarkable for failures. They have been fruitful in criticisms, in hypotheses, in suppositions and speculations, but not in those solid and definite convictions which are indispensable to religious thought and life. They have failed to illumine the understanding, to purify the conscience, to stimulate the will, to strengthen the hope of immortality, and to bring the creature into close communication with the Creator. Nay, more than this and worse than this, they have allured many minds away from a quiet anchorage, to cast them loose on an ocean of unbelief, where happiness and morality have both been shipwrecked. They have disturbed the head and distressed the heart, and they have darkened the horizon of life and driven many to despair. Considered in the light of what they ought to have done and could not do, and of what they have done and ought not to do, their pretentious claims must be set aside as almost sublimely arrogant. And instead of doubting from their assumptions the continual supremacy of Christianity, we should infer from their failures that the world can not dispense with its ministry, and that everything in our power should be done to render this ministry all that it should be in grace and beauty.

Let no one be deceived or confused by the unwarranted assumptions and the unproved assertions of the new theology. Resting upon an uncertain foundation, built up by the unreliable process of human reasoning, and lacking the power of the living Word of God for its maintenance, it has no sufficient claim on the confidence of those who desire a satisfactory solution of the problem of sin, the assurance of victory over death, and a well-grounded hope of eternal life. The inspired counsel of the apostle Paul to his son in the faith, Timothy, has a personal application to every believer in

this generation: “Guard that which is committed unto thee, turning away from the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely so called; which some professing have erred concerning the faith.”

A Living Hope

By C. M. S.

THERE is a hope in the heart of man that even the certainty of death can not destroy. From day to day we hear the ceaseless tramp of the bearers of the dead; and no day passes wherein the cold hand of the desolator of homes does not fall upon hundreds of households. A tide of bereavement goes around the world with every sun. And yet there are millions who look upon this sad spectacle as that which must always be, world without end.

Into such dark lives there shines no ray of hope. The back is turned upon God, and the eyes peer into the darkness, seeing nothing; and because such men see nothing there, they believe there is nothing to be seen wheresoever they might look. Into life out of nowhere, into death going nowhere into nothing—this is the philosophy of darkness; and the darkness of the abyss into which they look who teach it is mirrored in their own souls. To such there is no law of God, no retribution for sin; and the whole course of life becomes a veritable maelstrom of doubt.

But there is a better philosophy, a brighter prospect. It does not eliminate death; but it opens a shaft through it to the realities beyond. The Lord reveals it to us through the prophet Isaiah in these words:—

“Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, Jehovah cometh forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.” Isa. 26: 19-21.

It is the Lord himself who is making this declaration. The language indicates that he considers a portion of the dead as his. He recognizes the same interest in them on the part of those from whom the hand of death had taken them. The ownership is mutual: “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise.” They are dear to those from whom death took them; they are dear to him who gave his Son to redeem them out of the hand of the enemy. The blessed part of it is that they “shall live,” “shall arise;” that those who have made dust their habitation through all the ages since Adam fell shall, if obedient to the purpose of God, “awake and sing.” That is God’s promise, which no power of men, angels, or evil spirits can ever frustrate.

How it takes the sting from death to have him who is the conqueror of death speak to us such words of father-love as these: “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.” There is no question there as to their coming out of their chambers again. They are not shut up forever; but when the career of sin is ended, forth from their chambers they come again, glorified, immortalized, crowned with the victors. For, “he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds.” Matt. 24: 31. Wherever death has strewn them, there the angels gather them up again. Such language is like that of a loving mother hushing her timid child to sleep while the storm rages without. “Close your eyes, my child, and sleep; you are safe; and when you awake, the storm will be over.” So would our Father comfort our timid hearts when we draw near to the sleep that hides from us the last great terrors of the storm of sin.

God has filled his Word with such assurances. We hear the Saviour declaring to those who had accepted him: “Because I live, ye shall live also.” Again: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” “For God sent not his Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him.” John 3: 17. A mighty work is this undertaken for our redemption, to insure to us “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” Every inheritance in this present world, be it never so great, is corruptible, perishable, defiled in some manner through the getting, and sooner or later will fade away, slipping through the fingers of those to whom it comes, and generally carrying with it ruin of soul and disgrace of name.

But the inheritance promised those who come forth from the chambers of death in the resurrection of the just is not of such a nature. The taint and canker of sin is not upon it; moth and rust have not corrupted it, neither can they do so. The glorified ones are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” As the three Hebrews came through the fiery furnace with no smell of fire upon their garments, so came he forth, and so come forth they that are his, with no tinge nor taint nor odor from the furnace of their test, and therefore no limitations of mortality upon the inheritance to which they are heirs.

The declaration that “the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose,” is only another way of declaring that wherever sin has defaced, God will beautify; and where sin has blighted, God will make fruitful; where Satan has weakened us, God will make us strong; where he has bruised us, God will heal; where he has blurred God’s image in us, God will make it appear again with splendor undimmed.

Isaiah encourages us thus: “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; he will come and save you.” Isa. 35: 4. Then of that redeemed and purified inheritance he says:—

“Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the glowing sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water: in the habitation of jackals, where they lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for the redeemed: the wayfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein. . . . The redeemed shall walk there: and the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isa. 35: 5-10.

The Spirit through Peter tells of the same restoration, in these words:—

“The heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight.” 2 Peter 3: 12-14.

Coupled with the assurance of what is to be, comes the admonition to be prepared, that we may meet in peace the Author of our salvation, and share in his triumph, because “God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.” 1 Thess. 5: 9, 10.

That is the glorious hope toward which we look, soon to be realized, and sure as that God lives and reigns. Christ has triumphed, and promises a share in that triumph to all who accept his proffered grace, even to sit down with him upon his throne in the realm of eternal righteousness. That great day hastens; the last warnings of its swift approach are hurrying to the remote corners of the earth. To some it will prove a day of darkness and perdition; to others, a day of glory and reward, reunion with loved ones, and personal association with the Son of God. The prospect of such an inheritance should make us anxious to

place our lives, our all, upon the altar of service, to be used as he wills in setting the lamp of this hope in the pathway of those wandering in the darkness of doubt and despair. C. M. S.

Without Money and Without Price

By Francis M. Wilcox

Man does not naturally possess righteousness. Of himself, or through his own efforts, he can not obtain it. It does not come by the power of the will, or as the result of physical exercise. It is the gift of God through the merits of Jesus Christ.

The sinner, lost and undone, finds himself without hope. He has violated God's law, and is a rebel against the divine government. The Spirit of God appeals to his heart. His conscience is awakened, he sees a better way, and desires release from his thralldom of iniquity. But he is powerless of himself to secure his liberty. He cries out in his anguish, “What must I do to be saved?”

It is then he sees a hand reached out to succor; he hears the gracious invitation, “Come unto me.” He responds to the call. Weak and poor and sinful, in his rags and wretchedness, in his shame and confusion, he throws himself at the feet of his Rescuer. He can not undo the past; he can not make himself better. He must come, if he comes at all, just as he is; and he is not disappointed. Divine mercy accords to him a welcome. It accepts the penitent tear, the changed purpose in the life, and freely forgives all the past. And more, it changes the past in God's reckoning, imputing for the misspent years, the life of Christ; so that when God looks back over the life of sin, he sees not the wickedness of an unregenerate life, but the life of his own Son, which has been imputed to the believer.

Then in response to the repentant soul's desire,—a desire which God has created by his Spirit,—he changes the heart of the penitent, implanting a love for right, and a hatred for the wrong. Sin appears unlovely and undesirable, and the soul reaches out after a holier and nobler existence. Christ enters the heart through faith, and is held in the life by the exercise of abiding trust and obedience.

This implanted life in the soul is cherished. By the yielding of self, the denial of sin, the exercise of prayer and faith, its enlargement is permitted and promoted. Its continued growth is marked by the development of Christian graces; and the sinner, poor and wretched as he was, and of himself still is, is transformed by divine mercy into a child of God, into the character of the Master.

At no point in the transforming process does the credit belong to the human factor. He is powerless to help himself at every stage. He can only will to do right, can only yield to God, and permit God to work in and for him. Even the desire after a better life, which prompts the choice, does not originate in the human heart, but is created by the Spirit of God.

No man can earn God's favor, or merit his approbation. Eternal life will be the gift of God to every soul. Those who enter heaven will be taken there through the merits of their Saviour, and the only part they will have acted, will be in consenting to be saved, and in co-operating with the heavenly agencies in the accomplishment of that result. F. M. W.

Be Sober, Be Vigilant

By Francis M. Wilcox

A SPIRIT of intoxication possesses the world to-day. The lust of the eyes, the love of the world, the pride of life, the greed for wealth, the clamoring of appetite and passion, the thirst for excitement and pleasure, are the means by which Satan is ensnaring the hearts of men, and leading them willing captives.

And not only the great sinful world has fallen a prey to his wiles, but we see the spirit of the world permeating the professed church of God. By the inroads of skepticism, mysticism, and higher criticism, and various false theories, he is seeking to dim the truth, and obscure the light of God's message.

In the midst of the prevailing error and apostasy, God is sending to the world a clear, decisive message of warning and reformation. As a result of that message, a people have been developed, and a church has been established. That church he designs to stand clear of the sins surrounding it. While its members are in the world, they are not to be of the world or to partake of its spirit. They are to be witnesses against sin, a living revelation and manifestation of the truth in its purity.

Against this remnant church the assaults of the enemy will be the fiercest. By every subtle influence and intrigue he will seek to draw them from their allegiance to God. Whether he does this by leading souls to the commission of some great sin, or by starting their feet in the downward path so they will forget God, his purpose is equally accomplished. It may be by involving them in some speculative enterprise to absorb the time and means which should be given to the promulgation of the truth, or by working into their hearts a spirit of pleasure and carelessness. It may be by entangling them in political alliances, or by swallowing them up in the giddy pleasures of society. Some speculative theory, having a substratum of truth, but mingled with misleading error, may absorb the mind; or it may be some hobby, some little detail of truth itself, which in itself, its proper setting in the message serves a valuable place,—this even may be taken and so enlarged by a vivid imagination that it shall be made to appear a paramount issue, and every other principle of the message subordinated to its advocacy. It matters not by which of these means souls are switched off from the straight main track of truth; the purpose of Satan has been served, and the great message of God is forgotten and finally rejected.

This great danger threatens the church of God to-day, and will stand as a menace to its progress until the end of time. In this hour the church of God needs earnest, vigilant, sober men and women. It needs those who possess sanctified sense and sound judgment; those who can not be driven from their moorings, but who recognizing the truth in its purity and the message in its completeness and symmetry, shall pull and work in even lines.

Zeal and earnest enthusiasm need to be combined with sober thought and conservative carefulness. Enthusiasm alone will run wild and reckless. Conservatism alone will block the wheels of progress, and cause a progressive work to retrograde. Each needs to be tempered and gauged by the other. In this message all natures are mingled. The fast, the slow, the progressive, the conservative, are placed side by side in labor. The maturity and experience of age and the energy and enthusiasm of youth are to be intermingled. No man is a perfect whole in and of himself. He needs his natural weaknesses fortified by the strength of his fellows. With the union of all these elements, a band of well-balanced workers will be constituted to meet the opposing forces of the enemy.

Now is a time for quiet thought, for abiding confidence and trust, for sincere devotion and earnest energy. Let us not halt or grow weary, let us not be discouraged or become confused. Let us be faithful to our mission, and hasten to finish the work to which God has called us. God reigns; his hand is on the helm; his care is over all his church.

The conflict is about over, the storm will soon spend its fury. We can not afford now to look back; we can not afford to set sail by ourselves. This message has passed its initial stages of experiment. The ship of truth will soon reach the haven; storm-tossed and weather-beaten, it will soon cast anchor in the port of heaven. God calls his children now to abide in the ship. This is the only place of safety. The truth for which we have lived and labored, and for which some of our fellows have laid down their lives, will triumph. If it has molded and fashioned our experience, its triumph will prove our triumph, and we shall rejoice in victory throughout the eternity of God. F. M. W.

General Conference Department Councils at the Coming Conference

By Arthur G. Daniells

EVERY consideration demands that the coming General Conference shall be so planned and conducted that it shall bring the greatest possible benefit to the cause. Three hundred or more delegates will be present. A large number of ministers, teachers, physicians, and workers in other departments who do not usually attend. The General Conference are planning to come. Nearly every country in the world will be represented. Every important interest of a general nature will be presented by these delegates. Plans and proposals for greatly enlarging our operations everywhere will be pressed for adoption.

In view of these considerations, and with the earnest desire that the best work shall be done in the conference, and that the greatest help possible shall come from it, those whose duty it is to prepare for this meeting are giving its interests careful study. Some of the plans agreed upon will be of interest to so many of our people that it is thought advisable to publish them. Here is one relating to departmental interests: One hour of every day, except Sabbath, is to be devoted by all the departments to what may be called convention work. Regular places of meeting will be assigned them.

The members and workers of the Sabbath-School Department will meet together in one place, while the members of the Educational Department and the instructors in the schools will meet in another place. This arrangement will make it possible for the representatives of each department of our cause to spend about twenty hours together in council regarding the interests of their particular line of work. In addition to this, each department is to have one entire day of the conference. Then at the close of the meeting, the most of the departments will remain together three or four days for convention work, to plan for the future.

From this it will be seen that every effort will be put forth to make the conference profitable and helpful to those who attend. These great departments represent all the interests of our cause. They have grown large, and have become very important. If they are all well directed, the highest interests of the cause will be advanced. Those in charge of these departments are now preparing resolutions, questions, and papers for consideration. A. G. DANIELLS.

Note and Comment

Queen Victoria and Tobacco

The attitude of the good Queen Victoria on the tobacco question would doubtless be looked upon as “old-fogyism” by most of the members of the reigning families to-day, and by the majority of tobacco users; but her rare good sense in other matters entitles her opinion to consideration upon this matter also. Her attitude toward that evil is thus set forth by an English paper:—

The queen had a strong objection to tobacco smoke, and would not allow smoking in any rooms used by her, or in any place where she was likely to go. Even the prince consort forebore to smoke in her presence. On one occasion she happened to notice the tabooed perfume when in Buckingham Palace, and on making inquiry, discovered that the Prince of Wales (then in his minority) was the offender. Her Majesty forthwith gave orders that the prince [now King Edward VII] should be confined to his rooms for a month, and the order was rigorously carried out.

God's Simple Way

By F. M. W.

THE whole world is sick, and in need of a Saviour; for “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” One universal remedy has been provided—Jesus Christ. He offers peace and pardon to all. “Whosoever will may come, and take of the water of life freely.” Every seeker must come in the same way. Had Heaven provided that one in coming must possess certain wealth, or education, or worldly influence, the vast majority of the sons of men would be excluded. But the provisions of God are so generous and so magnanimous that a way is opened for all,—one and the same way for the high and the low, the rich and the poor, the learned and the illiterate. The king on his throne has no precedence over the serf in the field.

He does not leave the seeker to grope his way unaided. He gives definite and explicit directions, even to the very words which he may employ, in returning to his Father’s house. To Israel he says: “Return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity. Take with you words, and turn to the Lord: say unto him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously.” And when they respond to this loving invitation, the Lord promises, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.”

After all, it is not so hard to come to God. The trouble is we too often try to reason it out, leaving God’s simple directions out of the question. Humble, contrite confession of sin, godly sorrow which will lead to the abandoning of the wrong, taking the word and promise of God for all and just what they say, believing in simple, childlike faith that God is our Father and Jesus Christ our Saviour, so that we shall be able to say with the apostle, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me,”—this is accepting Christ. This faith and this living experience will result in a changed life here, and a glorified life in the future.

F. M. W.

A Faithless Generation

More and more frequently do we see demonstrations of the last-day condition implied in our Saviour’s question: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” This characteristic is not circumscribed by our relation to temporalities, but enters primarily into our attitude toward the things of God. Speaking of the present times, Dr. Charles Brown said:—

What I judge to be the radical defect of the present time is lack of faith. It is a day of unsettled convictions. There is abundance of activity, but a lack of deep and unshaken assurance.

The condition is not overstated. That lack of “unshaken assurance” in divine things on the part of evangelical denominations is driving men and women by the thousands either into infidelity or into the open arms of the Church of Rome. It is a time for the child of God to give diligent study to the Word of God that his anchor may not slip when the stress of the storm bears hard.

A Practical Illustration

THE record of the operation of the prohibition law in the city of Atlanta, Ga., for the past year furnishes a practical demonstration of the vast gain to the people of a city, both financially and morally, by forbidding the liquor traffic. Concerning the conditions there under the temperance régime the Atlanta Constitution states that arrests by the Atlanta police were 8,810 less than during the previous year; the fines collected in the recorder’s court fell off by $34,350; and the fines worked out on the street were less than during the preceding year by $10,388. But these figures do not show the complete gain. It means something to a city to have the brand of the criminal kept off 8,810 of its citizens—to have the lives of that many less of its inhabitants unstained by prison records. It is a wonderful change in the family life to have the husband and father and the sons come home sober, bringing their earnings with them to purchase the necessaries and comforts of life. It means much to the growing children of a city to have the streets free from tottering inebriates, that their youthful ears may not be assailed by the vulgar mouthings of drunken wretches. No figures can adequately express the true gain to any city that has experienced such a change.

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